2015 MSIG Sai Kung 28k And 50k Results

[Editor’s Note: This article was written by guest contributor Koichi Iwasa of DogsorCaravan.com.]

The MSIG Sai Kung 28k and 50ktook place yesterday in Hong Kong, hosting the inaugural Asia Skyrunning Continental Championships. This was also the 2015 Skyrunning season kick off. In the 28k Skyrace, Japan’s Dai Matsumotoand Italy’s Elisa Desco followed the course carefully and won the race. In the 50k Ultra SkyMarathon, Samir Tamang and Mira Rai, both Nepalese, dominated on the demanding, technical trail.

Below you’ll find our play-by-play summary as well as race results. As usual, we’ll be updating this article with links to related articles, photo galleries, and race reports.

2015 MSIG Sai Kung 28k Race and Results

One of the legends in Skyrunning, Italy’s Marco De Gasperi, led for the first part of his first race in Hong Kong. Unfortunately, he took a wrong turn at a fork about 10 or 11k into the race. He says he maybe missed four minutes, and when he came back to the course, he spotted two Japanese runners ahead of him. Those two runners were Dai Matsumotoand Yoshihito Kondo. Kondo says, “I just tried not to miss Matsumoto because he came to Sai Kung for recon last month. But Matsumoto has good skill on technical downhill, and I gave in to his lead.” Getting a lead from a global legend and a local running buddy, Dai Matsumoto won the 28k race in 2:49:23. Yoshihito Kondo finished second, just two minutes back from Matsumoto. Marco De Gasperi took third and says, “I regret my mistake, but really love this tough and challenging race.” Fourth and fifth places were the U.K.’s Tom Owens and Australia’s David Byrne. Japanese runners took four places in the top-10 men.

Japan’s Dai Matsumoto on his way to the MSIG Sai Kung 28k win. All photos: iRunFar/Koichi Iwasa

Elisa Desco and Stephanie Jimenez, both from Italy, made it quite the race for the 28k win. The pair dueled each other, and Desco’s lead to Jimenez at CP3, 22k into the race, was just 10 seconds. At the finish line, Desco won and Jimenez followed in second only 43 seconds later. Kanako Hasegawa of Japan took third, and Chiaki Fjelddahl, from Japan but residing in Hong Kong, was fourth. Again, Japanese female runners showed presence.

2015 MSIG Sai Kung 50k Race and Results

As we often see in Hong Kong, Nepalese runners excelled, winning both the 50k Ultra SkyMarathon men’s and women’s races in the Asia Skyrunning Continental Championships. Samir Tamangdominated all through the 50k, and looked relaxed at the finish line. He says, “I was not on [my] expected time today, but happy to start this year with great success.” For China’s Yan Long-Fei, it was a rough race. His strategy was to follow the leader until the middle of the course. But he also took a wrong turn to CP2/18k, and when he got back to the course, he was in fifth. He started chasing the leaders, but did not know that Tamang was leading just a bit ahead of him. Long-Fei finished second, three minutes from Tamang. Third place, Spain’s Cristofer Clemente, and fourth place, Australia’s Blake Hose, ran steady. Both Miki Ushida, from Japan, and the U.S.A.’s Luke Nelson ran smart races, taking fifth and sixth from around 10th in the early miles. Please allow us to mention that three Japanese got into the top-10 men of the 50k!

Nepal’s Samir Tamang, the 2015 MSIG Sai Kung 50k champion.

The women’s 50k winner was Mira Rai of Nepal. We should say that she ran the most successful race yesterday. She not only dominated the women’s 50k but she also took sixth overall. Her lead against China’s Dong Liexpanded toward the finish. Dong Li and Kasie Enman, of the U.S.A., were steady in second and third place. Italy’s Alessandra Carlini ran patiently, and moved up to fourth place from farther back in the women’s top 10 early on. I am proud to have Japan’s Shiho Iwadate in fifth, one of two Japanese in the women’s top 10.